


Broken Spirits, Hearts made of Glass

by DualExistence



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Analysis, Character Study, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Gen, throwing in some headcanons too I think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2019-11-08 06:31:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17976254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DualExistence/pseuds/DualExistence
Summary: Illustrations of different characters painted with words alone.





	1. To Be Human

Glow. Break. Succumb. Cry. Repeat.  
  
Machinery sound. Fire within the spirit of what was once human.  
  
Make it shine, then kill the lights.  
  
Push him down, once more, he still does not break.  
  
He gets up from his grave, staring into your soul with cold eyes, blade in hands, blood on his lips. He screams but his voice has no tone.  
  
He removes the mask and there is nothing.  
  
Just those cold, glaring red eyes.  
  
Remove his feelings.  
  
Remove his empathy.  
  
Instill only red bloody rage.  
  
Break his bones, break his wings, crush his soul.  
  
Create the perfect weapon.  
  
To be human, that means to love and fear, to regret, to cry and get hurt?  
  
Therefore, he is not human.  
  
Isn’t he?  
  
They thought.  
  
It did not matter.  
  
  
The little sparrow sits on his metallic hand, sings a song just for him. The bird does not see a monster.  
  
He watches it with his cold, grey eyes. He could crush the bird, rip out its wings, one feather after the other. Kill it. Yet he keeps listening to its gentle chirps. The bird flies away and he follows its path with something almost melancholic.  
  
But he does not remember sadness.  
  
He wanders the world and observes its life, life that flows past him, does not include him because of how little he feels.  
  
Anger and pain, that is what he remembers. Nothing else.  
  
He grows content with it. Callous.  
  
The red rage starts to slowly disappear.  


What is humanity?  
  
People define it as so emotional. But what about those left behind?  
  
Feelings were never a choice, he figured. To have too many of them or too little.  
  
It does not matter.  
  
Our actions of how we shape the world around us create who we really are.  
Man or machine, both shape the world and neither does at the same time, all driven by nature that we have no control over.  
  
His nature, that is a different one.  
  
And he learns to embrace it.  
  
To be the silent observer of all things. Gently pushing others like chess pieces across the playing field and he is the only one in control.  
  
But all those deemed negative aspects of his person, they could be shaped into something humble and wise.  
  
He chooses to walk the path of kindness and artificial compassion.  
  
Empathy driven by intellect and not emotion, a harmony within an emotionally chaotic shadow of a human.  
  
He is beyond that, second-guessing himself and his humanity. He is _more_ than that.  
  
The sparrow returns to his hands and sings for him.  
  
Sings his melody, bringing him back to life.  
  
  



	2. Tear Down the Bridges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts on Sombra

  
If you think about it, it’s pretty easy: you load the weapon, aim at the head and pull the trigger.   
Give the weapon to a child, it won’t ask questions.  
  
But she had too many questions, already doubted if killing was the right thing to do. Subsequently, she learned that it was a means to an end.   
She didn’t like it, hated the smell of blood because it triggered far too many painful memories. She swallowed once, twice and pressed her eyes shut to prevent herself from crying bitterly at the thought of her parents, killed in a massacre that she back then didn’t fully understand.   
  
When Olivia Colomar was born, war threatened to drown the world in darkness. Said war took everything from her country and her heart.   
It took her family first and her faith in justice second. Politicians and corporations kept making empty promises, to the suffering of the people. It seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel – only death and destruction.   
  
A heart can only handle as much pain as it is loved. But this life of hers received no love, no warmth, no security.  
  
There was only fear.  
  
Eventually, Olivia didn’t want to be afraid anymore. If there was no one who would stop this suffering, she had to do it herself.  
  
She started to observe those who gave all those promises but didn’t keep them. She walked the dark alleys her parents forbade her back then from entering, in fear of her getting hurt. She started to explore the underworld, built walls around her heart and decided that day to trust no one but herself, to help no one but herself, to manipulate and exploit others to get a little closer to her goal, step by step, little by little.  
  
Give the weapon to a child, it won’t ask questions.  
  
Because it wants _answers_.   
  
And she will get them, no matter the cost it will take.

 

«Tear down the bridges  
Drain all the rivers  
Burn down the town hall  
There are no winners

Reload the weapons  
Sharpen the scissors  
Cut off the fetters  
Pull all the triggers

And everyone's screaming  
When the lights go out»

  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics from IMAscore – Tear Down the Bridges


End file.
